2020-11-10 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   10 NOVEMBER 2020




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SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                                 10 NOVEMBER 2020

                 Consequences of failing to comply
                     ith the Code of Conduct

                 Es

                 Failure to comply with the standards of                   Inappropriate conduct
                 behaviour in this Code of Conduct, or other                                ae                          ;
                                  :    ’    ;                              Under the legislation, any conduct by a Councillor
                 conduct prescribed in this code of conduct may            that is contrary to the standards of behavior in the
                 give rise to a complaint against a Councillor's           Code of Conduct ora policy, procedure or resolution
                 conduct and subsequent disciplinary action                of a Council, and is not unsuitable meeting conduct,
                 under the legislation.                                   misconduct or corrupt conduct is dealt with as
                                                                           inappropriate conduct.
                 Acomplaint about the conduct of a Councillor must be      The conduct of a Councillor is also inappropriate
                 submitted to the Office of the Independent Assessor       conduct if the conduct contravenes an order by the
                 (OIA), who will assess the complaint and determine        Chairperson of a meeting of Council for the Councillor
                 the category of the allegation. In order of least to most to leave the meeting or is a series of conduct
                 serious, the categories of complaint are unsuitable       at Council meetings that leads to orders for the
                 meeting conduct, inappropriate conduct,                   Councillor's unsuitable meeting conduct being made
                 misconduct, and then corrupt conduct.                     on three occasions within a period of one year. The
                                                                           local government is not required to notify the OIA and
                 Unsuitable meeting conduct                                may deal with the conduct under section 150AG of the
                                                                           LGA (including Brisbane City Council).
                    der the legislati         duct by   aC    illor th                                     :         ‘
                 sh SEBIS LPRISIBHION Afty SOnHUGE ae eee sia              The OIA is responsible for assessing allegations of
                 is contrary to the standards of behavior in the Code                 3        ,
                                         ae          ‘           3         suspected inappropriate conduct other than those
                 of Conduct that occurs within a meeting of Council          a              :          .
                  js    ;        :         5         a     3        :      arising from unsuitable meeting conduct. If the OIA
                 (including standing committee meetings), is dealt with                                            .         ;
                 scainkuiteble qumthaie  conduit                           chooses to refer the matter to the Council to deal with,
                                       a          °                        the Council must deal with the matter as quickly and
                 Unsuitable meeting conduct by a Councillor is dealt       effectively as possible.
                 with by the Chairperson of the meeting. It is important
                 that the Chairperson deal with matters of unsuitable      Misconduct
                 meeting conduct locally, and as efficiently and
                 effectively as possible so that Council can continue      Councillors are required to comply with all laws that
                 with their business of making effective decisions inthe —_ apply to local governments, this includes refraining
                 public interest.                                          from engaging in misconduct.
                                                                           The OIA is responsible for assessing and investigating
                    NOTE                                                   instances of suspected misconduct. The OIA may make
                                                              ;            an application to the Councillor Conduct Tribunal to be
                    Chairpersons of meetings are carrying out a Statutory responsibility     ‘
                    under the legislation to manage and lead the meeting. As such, Where heard and determined.
                    a Chairperson behaves inappropriately in a meeting this involves a
                    serious breach of the trust placed in them as the Chairperson of the
                    meeting and may be dealt with as misconduct (see right).

                 Page8 Code of Conduct for Councillors in Queensland                                     www.,digrma.qld.gov.au |

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